pump
/pʌmp/ verb C2- To use a pump; to move (water or other liquid) by means of a pump. · I've been pumping for over a minute but the water isn't coming through.· I've pumped over 1000 gallons of water in the last ten minutes.
- To inject or pour (something) into someone or something in a manner similar to a pump.
- To gain something, especially information, from (a person) by persistent questioning.
- To express milk from (a breast) by means of a breast pump.
- To fill with air by means of a pump; to inflate. · He pumped up the air-bed by hand, but used the service station air to pump up the tyres.
- To move rhythmically, as the motion of a pump. · I pumped my fist with joy when I won the race.
- To enlarge the body by means of weightlifting or steroid use.
- To shake (a person's hand) vigorously.
He/she/it pumps · Past pumped · Past participle pumped · -ing form pumping
Verb forms
- Base form
- pump
- He/she/it
- pumps
- Past
- pumped
- Past participle
- pumped
- -ing form
- pumping
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
To pump and stable, tree and swing,
At six he drew a picture of the town pump with a prominent citizen passing it hastily.
Edmond thus had the advantage of knowing what the owner was, without the owner knowing who he was; and however the old sailor and his crew tried to “pump” him, they extracted nothing more from him; he gave accurate descriptions of Naples and Malta, which he knew as well as Marseilles, and held stoutly to his first story.
‘All hands to the pumps!’ I shouted; but it was too late, and it seemed the more we pumped the more came in.
Other matches
Learn pump in real texts
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